[3.12] Juggernaut Earthquake Bleed Build - Tanky AF - 7M Shaper DPS

TLDR: https://pastebin.com/d1AauWKB

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3.12 UPDATE:
New alternate quality gems can be very useful for this build, therefore we're dropping Kaom's Roots in favour of more sockets and dropping the Unyielding ascendancy node for Unstoppable (for the stun and slow immunity that we compromise).

Tier 16 Map Clearing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hQtlDFz1As

Build Intro:

Hi all,

This has been my favourite build to progress with in Harvest League; it features extremely high defences, respectable DPS, fun playstyle along with a lot of QoL. It makes great use of the melee buffs seen in 3.11 in such a way to boost bleed dps and clear speed; we also use the new warcries both defensively and offensively. In the end game, we can also reach 112% increased damage simply from having 7 endurance charges. Additionally, it is a great league starter since the mechanics of this build aren't centered around expensive items or hard to acquire stats. Getting to and killing A8 was a breeze, along with clearing all other content.

Pros:

-Very high survivability with 7k eHP, 1k life regen (without enduring cry), up to 90% phys reduction, 7 endurance charges and overleech
-Great league starter, includes cheap effective uniques.
-Very mobile, we can inflict a bleed and dodge mechanics while maintaining high DPS.
-3.11 Fist of War gives a huge boost to melee clear speed
-Juggernaut improves QoL immensely..
-Not a meta cuck build, investing will be very easy with since there's not a lot of competition for gear.
-Fun and unique playstyle if you enjoy DoT builds.

Cons:

-We sacrifice some potential dps for sustain, e.g incorporating leech.

-Not very SSF viable due to some mechanics relying on uniques.

-DoT and/or melee playstyle is not for everyone.

How the build works:

The build uses Earthquake in order to inflict bleeding on enemies. Earthquake is one of the best, if not the best, melee skill for bleeding, since it hits twice, with the second hit (aftershock) dealing 150% more damage with hits and ailments, boosting our bleed dps considerably. Our clear speed is also greatly increased by the unique Haemophilia Serpentscale Gauntlets because it causes bleeding enemies to explode (basically a free explode chest).
Important:
Enemies take three times more damage from bleeding while they are moving. In order to overcome this, we will be using a second weapon set including a bow (Ideally Quill Rain due to high aps but it doesn't really matter) using the skill Ensnaring Arrow. Using this skill makes our enemies act as if they are moving, resulting in more bleed damage. Therefore, the standard rotation for this build is -> Earthquake, weapon swap (bound to X by default), Ensnaring Arrow (only have to shoot it once) and then more Earthquakes to keep leeching and maybe inflict a bleed with higher dps (because inflicting a higher dps bleed on a target replaces lower dps bleeds).
One more thing I'd like to mention is Crimson Dance. I would only recommend this on long single target fights like Sirus. 99% of the time, your target will just die in a few seconds with a normal bleed. If you wish to respec into Crimson Dance, swap out Fist of War with Less Duration Support so you can stack quicker. Although I have to say, this isn't necessary by any means, it's just if you want to experiment with a different playstyle.
Our defenses rely largely on the juggernaut ascendancy - our armour is doubled through Unbreakable, increasing our physical damage reduction. We specialise in endurance charges with Unflinching to generate endurance charges, Unstoppable for stun and slow immunity.

Ascendancy order = Unflinching -> Unbreakable-> Unstoppable -> Unrelenting



Another mechanic of this build is life leech. We spec into leech with some notable cluster jewels such as Feed the Fury and Fuel the Fight. Keep in mind, bleed does not leech life - it is only the raw damage of the Earthquake impact, therefore it is important to keep hitting in order to leech. The unique belt Soul Tether is a crucial item since it essentially gives us slayer overleech by not removing life leech effects when we reach full life. Additionally, Soul Tether provides us a respectable amount of energy shield which we can also leech into when we are at full life. Check PoB for full cluster jewel setup.

Bandit Choice:

Kill all for 2 passives

Pantheon:

Major: Soul of Arakaali
Minor: Soul of Shakari

Gem links:

Earthquake - Brutality - Fist of War (Alternate Quality 2 for 60% more damage and 20% less attack speed)- Melee Physical Damage - Fortify - Deadly Ailments

If possible, aim for awakened versions of brutality, melee physical damage and deadly ailments for extra dps. The alternate quality Fist of War support is not mandatory and you can choose to skip it if you don't like less attack speed.

Pride - Flesh and Stone (Alternate Quality 1 for extra armour)- Maim - Enlighten

Enlighten is necessary to deal with the high mana reservation of Pride.

Seismic Cry - Enduring Cry - Second Wind - Flame Dash - Intimidating Cry

Seismic Cry is gonna be a big boost to dps and aoe. The keystone Measured Fury is gonna give us one more exerted attack, allowing us to stack Seismic Cry's buff even further. Use Intimidating Cry for bosses (for maximum dps, wait until the last exerted attack of Seismic Cry and then use Intimidating Cry for a 250% boost in damage)

Enduring Cry is a great defensive skill which has great synergy with the keystone Call to Arms, since we can turn it into an instant oh-shit button. However, Call to Arms also makes our warcries share their cooldowns. If you are in dangerous situation, I would suggest skipping Seismic Cry so as to allow Enduring Cry to be used whenever needed.
Flame Dash is my movement skill of choice since we can link it with Second Wind for a total of 4 charges. While second wind doesn't provide our warcries a +1 to cooldown use, it does reduce their overall cooldown speed.

Cast when Damage Taken (Alternate Quality 1 for more skill effect duration) - Immortal Call - Increased Duration - War Banner

Since we basically have 7 endurance charges at all times, we can make great use of Immortal Call because it uses up all our endurance charges to increase its effect.

Gear:

Mandatory uniques (all very cheap): Soul Tether Cloth Belt, Haemophilia Serpentscale Gauntlets.


MOST IMPORTANT - For our weapon, we want an elder influenced Karui Chopper. The mod we are looking for is "60% chance for Bleeding inflicted with this Weapon to deal 100% more damage". The reason why we want a Karui Chopper is because it sports the highest damage for two handed axes. In PoE, bleeding is scaled off our attack, therefore we want a weapon with as much physical damage as possible. Simply put, more weapon damage=more bleed dps. Additionally, increased attack speed is certainly useful, but not game breaking.



For our rings, we want one with warlord influence for the mod "Curse enemies with level 8 Vulnerability on hit", causing them to take increased physical damage. Ideallly, this should be a Vermillion Ring for increased maximum life, however those can get very expensive therefore any ring with resist and life should do.



For our amulet, we can make great use the mod "physical damage over time multiplier" along with the annointemnt "Disciple of the unyielding". Both of these give us a pretty big dps boost. You can also replace phys over time with increased damage per endurance charge.



For our chest, we use a warlord influenced astral plate for resists but also for the mod "Socketed Attacks have -15 to Total Mana Cost"; while this actually isn't mandatory since we leech mana, you may find yourself running out of mana for a second or two without it.



For boots, you want 30% increased movement speed, life and chaos res if possible.



As for normal jewels, make sure every one has %increased maximum life. Also aim for "increased global physical damage" and "increased damage with bleeding"/"increased damage over time". You can also get some extra resists if needed.

Flasks:



Levelling

How to get high DPS weapons
Having a good weapon when levelling any melee build is essential. But, there is a very simple recipe that will help immensely. All you're gonna have to do is grab a two handed axe with high base damage (Labrys in early levels for example), one Blacksmith's Whetsone and a magic/rare Rustic Sash. Sell all three to a vendor and you will get that weapon with around 40-60% increased physical damage. After doing this, craft flat Added Physical Damage to that weapon.

Unlocking the first ascendancy point, Unflinching, should smooth up levelling since each endurance charge grants 4% to all elemental resistances.

I suggest picking up the haemophilia gloves as soon as you are comfortable with your bleed chance (when you hit around 65%). Soul Tether is not required for levelling, so you can start using it as soon as you have a fairly high level and get your leech cluster jewels.

-From level 1 to 12 use Ground slam
-From level 12 use Earthshatter (with Enduring Cry so as to pop the spikes)
-At level 28 you coud swap to Earthquake, however I suggest sticking to Earthshatter until around level 60 or so, because we start picking up bleed nodes. Overall you shouldn't have a problem with either skill, the campaign is fairly easy.

Here are some good levelling uniques (ignore socketed gems)



Thank you for reading the guide. I would appreciate any comments/suggestions for improvements!

thanks

this build looks promising, will definitely give it a go

Hi, nice build. Looks funny and smooth. If you use Molten Shell on your left click it shares cooldown with Inmortal Call... What's the point of have IC on CWDT then? I am missing something?

"

Vaironx wrote:

Hi, nice build. Looks funny and smooth. If you use Molten Shell on your left click it shares cooldown with Inmortal Call... What's the point of have IC on CWDT then? I am missing something?

Sorry I will edit that, forgot that all guard skills now share a cooldown. Thanks for the feedback!

Cool build, i want to try a bleeding EQ build, but not sure about going jugg or gladiator. What do you think are the pros/cons between those options?

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MrWay wrote:

Cool build, i want to try a bleeding EQ build, but not sure about going jugg or gladiator. What do you think are the pros/cons between those options?

Gladiator is a great choice for bleed, but not for earthquake. Earthquake scales well with big slow hits; simply put, earthquake is better with two handed weapons (something which gladiators don't specialise in), so I would suggest going gladiator for builds using skills such as Lacerate because they don't rely on weapon damage as much. They can both be tanky, but the gladiator requires more investment (e.g the Surrender shield) while the Jugg is naturally tanky with little investment, which makes the jugg more cost effective and more viable as a league starter. Juggernaut also gives us a lot of quality of life features like immunity to slows and chaos res. Not to mention, builds using block always have an rng factor, which makes the characters too inconsistent for my liking.

hello there, trying the build right now, still lvl 74. What do we use for pantheon?

"

MrWay wrote:

hello there, trying the build right now, still lvl 74. What do we use for pantheon?

Soul of Arakaali as major
Soul of Shakari as minor

Hi,
How do we optimize the aftershock timing? If I remember correctly, the aftershock time has to be the same or faster than the EQ attack time.

Thanks